Incendiary
by macrauchenia
Summary: "You're going to die, little Todoroki. And if you don't, your classmates will instead." - A training exercise backfires when Izuku and Todoroki become tangled in an escaped villain's vendetta against Endeavor. Alone in a perilous situation due to the villain's barrier quirk, Todoroki must take desperate and creative measures to save his classmates. [Class 1-A Teamwork/Bonding]
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** Apparently it's Shouto's birthday today. You guys know what that means, don't you? It's obligatory minor-whump/teammate-bonding time.

First time writing with these dorky kids, so apologies for any awkwardness.

* * *

Izuku likes to sort the world into orderly categories. Heroes and villains are no exception. It first started with the professionals, so distant and easy to fit into labeled boxes like technique and fighting style. When his idols became tangible beings instead of out-of-reach ideals, the information he gathered grew to be richer, more detailed.

He absorbs facts about his classmates with such a ferocity he wonders if this might have been his quirk all along. The observations—all their strengths and weaknesses and quirky surprises—buzz around in his brain, relentless until he scribbles all the details down in the privacy of his bedroom.

It's a habit he can't quite shake and it becomes more apparent with each day he spends at UA. He knows he should stop, out of respect for his classmates and their privacy. It would be disastrous if his notes ever fell into the wrong hands. He's increasingly aware of this each time villains target the UA.

He tries locking the notebooks away or tucking them behind his All Might paraphernalia. He even buries them in his laundry hamper as the ultimate deterrent. However, nothing works for more than a week.

Izuku decides that he'll keep his observations private, only to be pulled out of storage whenever Aizawa-sensei creates impossible match-ups, something Izuku suspects he does on purpose to test their flexibility. Pleased with his compromise, he keeps on categorizing his classmates.

He doesn't attempt to rank them. He would feel guilty assigning levels of usefulness to his friends.

(Though, Izuku won't deny that he prefers having certain people on his team to others. He just won't say who, because he hates to be judgmental—even in the privacy of his own mind.)

Instead, Izuku sorts them by their strengths, grouping those with similar techniques together. After a year of teamwork and impromptu battles, he finds it's easier than he thought.

Kirishima and Ojiro, Izuku decides, are better at close combat fighting than long distance assaults, but they both have defensive moves. Tsu and Hagakure specialize in stealth, just as Jiro and Shoji excel in reconnaissance.

He sorts through most of the class easily, finding a special place for each quirk. A few make him pause, usually because they could fit in multiple categories and Izuku isn't sure where to put them.

They're in the middle of an English lesson when Izuku reconsiders those without a definitive category. He mashes his lips together, tapping his pencil lightly against his notebook as he stares at the back of the blond head in front of him.

 _Kacchan's getting better at long range attacks and his close combat skills are amazing. Is it possible to put people on multiple lists?_

Izuku's not sure, even when he argues that it's _his_ list and he can do whatever he wants with it.

He turns his head to catch a glimpse of the other classmate without a category. Todoroki shifts when he senses Izuku's gaze, blinking once with a slight tilt of the head.

He's also not sure why it's taking him so long to sort Todoroki. The answer seems obvious: Todoroki's abilities as a long-distance specialist are unparalleled in the class, always providing infallible backup support with his flames and ice. The calculating freezing of the building during their first hero class, the cautious distance maintained during the sports festival. The battle with Stain, the provisional license exam. Each time, Todoroki had been a formidable force with his deliberateness and careful distance.

Izuku tears his gaze away from Todoroki and refocuses on the back of Kacchan's head. It seems obvious now, especially when he considers all the evidence seriously. He scribbles Todoroki's name next to the other distance fighters and closes his notebook with a satisfied nod. Sorting Kacchan can wait.

* * *

His class is noisier than usual, whispering amongst themselves with furtive glances. It makes explaining their latest assignment more difficult and his looming headache comes much quicker. He clears his throat and hoists an eyebrow.

Immediately, his students fall silent and all forty-one eyes snap to him.

(At least, he assumes. Hagakure seems to be oriented towards him, judging by the position of her gloves and boots.)

"Today's exercise will be a simple hero-villain conflict. Villains, find all three pieces of the bomb and assemble it before time runs out. You may also capture the heroes. Heroes, stop them."

Several members of the class tilt their heads or furrow their brows. He can tell they're going over his brief directions again, searching for the underlying trick. After all, they know it's rare for the villain team to be given the more arduous task.

 _Good. Let them worry. It'll make them overly cautious._

He considers his students before breaking them into four groups.

"Group A, you'll be the villains. Group C—heroes." The ten students nod, but Aizawa notes that they still seem more apprehensive than usual. "Any questions?"

Four hands shoot up.

"Aizawa-sensei!" Iida speaks first, keeping his hand suspended even after Aizawa nods for him to continue. "Is there a reason we are practicing outside of the UA campus?"

"Class 1-B has requested the USJ and the support courses are using the main campus arenas."

"What about the escaped villain?" Ashido's hand wriggles in the air, her elbow nearly level with her horns. The other hands drop and Aizawa realizes that it isn't his assignment that has made his students seem so jumpy. "Shouldn't we be closer to the pro heroes with that guy on the loose?"

 _They've been like this since the broadcast first aired._ He mulls over his next words before speaking again. He isn't particularly enthusiastic about their situation either, but with their next set of exams looming, he doesn't have the option to push back training until some overzealous villain is caught.

"Midnight and Present Mic will join myself and those of you who aren't participating on the observation deck." He waves towards the rocky cliff face behind them. "The other pro heroes are already working with the authorities to apprehend Radial Point. Furthermore, there hasn't been any indication that the UA is his primary target."

The students nod uncertainly and he can't blame them. If Radial Point were to attack the school, it wouldn't be the first time students would get caught in the crosshairs of professional vendettas.

 _Radial Point, huh?_

Aizawa doesn't know much about the villain and that's what worries him. Apart from a furrow-browed recollection from Toshinori and a fairly mild arrest record, not much is known about the villain, who escaped several weeks ago from a low-security prison. He had even been deemed too low of a priority to make the evening news.

At least, not until he released a blustery threat to the local news channels a few days ago, claiming to destroy the legacy of the pro hero who imprisoned him. It's the villain's emphatic promise that unnerves Aizawa.

And now that uneasiness has spread to his students.

He sighs and glances back at the prepared practice field. Training with limited supervision is a pain they have to work around, but the sooner the exercises finish, the sooner they can return to the main campus.

"If there aren't any more questions, then Groups A and C should get into position. The exercise starts in three minutes, no warning."

* * *

While the five villains race off for the nearby forest—rather, Bakugou surging forward and his poor teammates scrambling after him—the heroes take a more relaxed approach to their assignment. After all, their job is easier.

Kirishima turns back to the group as soon as the last straggling villain disappears through the tree cover. "D'think we'll even have to do anything?"

Ashido laughs, dark eyes crinkling. "Who knows, but Bakugou isn't going to make it easy on them. Besides—who's gonna come up with a plan? Kaminari's gonna fry his brain just trying."

Izuku pinches his chin as he considers their opponents. "If the devices emit some sort of electrical energy, Kaminari might be able to find them. Plus, they have Jiro, which means they'll know where we're at."

 _That's right. We shouldn't underestimate them just because they have more work to do._ Izuku reconsiders his observation list. _I said stealth was Tsu-chan's biggest strength, but she's smart too. She and Iida could come up with a dangerous plan even if they can't get Kacchan to go along with it._

"What if we focus on finding one of the bomb parts?" Kirishima crosses his arms and tilts his head. "Aizawa-sensei said we just have to stop them from putting it together, right? It'll be easier if they have to come to us."

Yaoyorozu nods approvingly. "Once we find it, we won't have to move. That'll make Jiro less of a problem."

"No movement? Sounds good to _me!_ This'll be like a vacation. _"_

"Great, so should we split up or…?"

"Maybe small groups if we run into problems," Kirishima says after a moment of thought. "Remember—their other objective was to stop us. If Tsu and the others try to assemble the bomb, they might leave the capturing part to Bakugou."

Ashido shudders and makes a face. "Yeah, definitely don't want to run into that guy alone."

Izuku frowns as he considers this latest thought. Now that they've had time to evaluate their opponents properly, it doesn't seem as randomly assigned as he first assumed. _They're better suited for this exercise than I thought. All of us—well, apart from Todoroki—are better for close range attacks, but we can't do that until we find the bomb and secure the area first. Charging in and getting caught without the advantage would be disastrous._

"I think you're right, Kirishima-kun. Small groups will probably work best. Are you three good to go together?" Yaoyorozu, Kirishima, and Ashido nod, the latter two giving Izuku wide grins and thumbs up.

Izuku turns to his new partner. "You okay with that, Todoroki-kun?"

Todoroki blinks and then grunts in affirmation. Izuku's too focused on their plans to notice how little their fifth teammate has contributed to the conversation.

* * *

They lose Bakugou once they enter the forest, though no one's really surprised. Jiro presses one of her earjacks against the ground and listens for a moment before shaking her head. "His moments of impact are too far apart for running. He must be using his quirk to move faster." Her brow furrows. "There's also someone moving quickly that way," she gives a little offhanded wave in the opposite direction, "farther from us. Can't tell who it is, but it sounds like one person."

Iida purses his lips as he considers their opponents. "They may be trying to find the bomb pieces before we do. It could be trouble if they get there first." He turns towards Kaminari. "Any luck?"

Kaminari scrunches his brow in concentration, rapidly flicking the dial on the side of his earpiece as he searches for any sort of strange interference. "No, nothing." His scowl deepens as he tries to make sense of the nonsensical buzzes and glitches. "The interference is too heavy. I can't find anything in all this static."

Jiro crosses her arms. "That's probably Momo. I wouldn't put it past her to create some sort of jamming signal." She swallows and brushes reflexively against an earjack. "I should be careful too."

Iida sighs before nodding. He doesn't expect anything less from his opponents, but having reconnaissance advantages would have been nice.

Tsuyu scuttles down from a nearby tree and drops the last two meters to the ground. "I can't see Bakugou anymore, but it looks like the others have entered the forest. I saw Todoroki and Midoriya enter the same place we did."

"We should get moving then before they find us. If we get frozen, the game's over. Any ideas on where to start looking for the bomb parts?"

"Follow me," Tsuyu says, hopping towards a break in the trees. "I think I saw something over there in the clearing."

* * *

"What _is_ it? Do you think that's what Sensei meant by the bomb? It doesn't look like the photo."

"It's huge! And there are supposed to be _three_ of them?"

"This would be so much easier with Uraraka here."

" _Kero_ …"

Iida is the first to approach the strange object, cautiously rapping his knuckles against the steel exterior. He would like to believe that their teacher wouldn't plant the pieces to assemble a genuine _bomb_ , but after Cementoss buried them alive for maximum realism during their latest survival exercise, he isn't about to discount the possibility.

"It might be a decoy. It's not labeled like the one Sensei showed us."

Jiro presses an earjack against the slick surface. "I don't hear anything on the inside. I'm betting Iida's right. Probably just a decoy to distract the heroes."

Tsuyu glances towards the overlook where she knows the other students are waiting. She can barely see the fuzzy outlines of her classmates.

 _We must be further than I thought._

"We're pretty far from where we started. I think we've gone too far. Aizawa-sensei probably placed the bombs closer to the overhang where he could observe us better."

Iida nods rapidly. "Good point. We shouldn't forget that this is still a training assignment."

"Let's get going then." Kaminari rubs his arms and glances over his shoulder. "Sticking around in the open like this is giving me the chills. I can't tell if I'm getting goosebumps or if Todoroki's getting closer."

Tsuyu moves to follow after them, but stops after a few steps. She narrows her eyes at the darkened trees across the clearing and waits, but nothing happens. When Jiro or the others don't react, she shrugs it off as being overly cautious. She rejoins the group and tries to calm her heightened nerves.

"We should find Bakugou soon. Maybe he's made some progress."

Jiro scoffs. "Already with the delusions of grandeur? You've got this villain thing down, Class Prez."

* * *

" _Please?"_ Hagakure's boots hop from side to side. "You only have to go part of the way."

Ojiro rubs the back of his neck and glances away. "I don't think it would be proper. You should have gone before we got here."

"I didn't have to _go_ then! Kyoka-chan's the one I usually ask, but she's fighting right now. Come on—I don't want to walk through the woods by myself! What if there are bears or something?"

"Bears? You should ask Koda to take you then."

The gloves fold over on themselves as Hagakure crosses her arms with a huff.

"Will you go with me, Uraraka-chan?"

Uraraka jumps at the sound of her name. "Huh?"

"I have to, you know _, go_ " Hagakure says, wringing her gloves.

Uraraka blinks before realization hits. "Oh! Uh, sure. Of course!" She spares a glance back at the practice field before trailing after Hagakure's boots. She has lost sight of Deku, Iida, and the others anyway and she's tired of squinting at trees, waiting for something to happen.

They babble about silly topics while they walk through the forest. A few minutes into their trip, Hagakure splits off with a cheery wave while Uraraka waits patiently behind. She turns around to give Hagakure maximum privacy and notices a hulking mass through the trees. Uraraka's brow furrows and she purses her lips as she moves closer towards it.

 _What_ is _that?_

It's huge. Taller than she is, even when she extends her arms as far as possible. Uraraka circles it at a cautious distance, her eyes jumping from the riveted steel plating to the explosion of wires dangling out of the back.

 _Is this supposed to be the bomb? It looks like it's already been assembled. Is it part of Sensei's lesson?_ Her frown grows. _Why is it making that sound? It's…_ ticking _?_

A hand settles on Uraraka's shoulder and she jumps with a shrill _eep!_

"Ahh, sorry, sorry, Uraraka-chan!" Hagakure hastily apologizes. "I didn't mean to scare you, but I—what's _that?"_

Uraraka shakes her head. "I—I don't know? It doesn't look like the bomb Sensei showed us though, does it?"

"Nuhuh. It looks like something out of a movie. An American action movie." Hagakure pauses. "Do you think we should tell Sensei about it?"

Uraraka eyes the metal object for a few more seconds before nodding. "Yeah, let's go!"

* * *

Todoroki and Izuku walk in silence.

Sort of.

It's Todoroki who stays silent as he weaves around trees. Izuku trails a few meters behind, muttering under his breath as he considers different possibilities of how their opponents might team up to defeat them.

 _"It depends if Kacchan actually works with them. If he tries to win this himself…"_ Izuku trails off, rubbing the base of his chin again.

 _"But things will change if we find a bomb part first. Todoroki-kun's long-distance ran—"_ Izuku breaks off when Todoroki stops, glancing back at Izuku over his shoulder.

"Did you say my name?"

Izuku blinks, just as confused until he realizes his muttering hadn't been as quiet as he had hoped.

"Oh, sorry. I guess I did. I was thinking about what will happen once we find one of the bomb pieces. The rest of our quirks are best suited for short-range fights—or, at least until Yaoyorozu-san can create something to trap them—so we might have to rely on you to keep them at a distance until we're ready."

Todoroki considers this before nodding. "It makes sense."

They resume walking and Izuku falls into step beside Todoroki. He peeks periodically in his partner's direction, but Todoroki stares blankly ahead, fixated on something far in the distance. Izuku taps his gloved fingers against his side, replaying their earlier conversations.

 _Todoroki seems…distant today. I wonder if anything's wrong. He didn't talk much during our morning classes. And he didn't say anything when we were planning our strategy._

He clears his throat and Todoroki glances in his direction with a tilt of the head.

"Uh, Todoroki-kun… Are you—uh, are you feeling okay?"

Todoroki seems a little thrown by the question, but he nods nonetheless. "I feel fine. Why do you ask?"

Izuku feels the tension ease from his chest. "It's nothing. You were just a little quiet earlier today. I wasn't sure if something was wrong or—"

Todoroki shakes his head. "I was just thinking—" he pauses, the corners of his eyes tightening ever so slightly. Izuku mashes his lips together because he's familiar with Todoroki's pained grimace, how it usually has something to do with Endeavor. "—about something I overheard my father say."

"Ahhh," Izuku says, lengthening his _h_ s like a drawn-out sigh. He isn't going to push the conversation any further if Todoroki isn't up to it. Instead, they resume their normal walking pace.

"What about you?"

"Me?"

Izuku sometimes forgets how awkward he can be when he's alone with Todoroki. He's gotten over the worst of it, which was when he was first so flustered by Todoroki's status and skill that he couldn't even speak in coherent sentences. Still, there's a blunt vagueness to Todoroki and Izuku always feels the need to over-clarify to make up for it.

"What about you?" Todoroki repeats. "You've been…" he pauses again, searching for the right word, " _muttering_ more than usual this week." Todoroki lifts a white eyebrow. "And you slammed your phone through your desk when All Might came for a surprise guest lecture."

Izuku groans at the memory. His actions had earned him an irritated lecture from Aizawa-sensei and a few exaggerated threats from Kacchan, who believed Izuku had intentionally startled him as some part of a convoluted plan to humiliate him. He couldn't tell either of them the truth, that he was scouring the web for more information about Radial Point because he feared All Might would be the escaped villain's target.

Izuku scratches at his cheek with a weak chuckle. He supposes it's not too embarrassing that he can't confide in Todoroki. "I've been worried about the escaped villain. Radial Point."

"Worried?"

"Yeah, in the threat he sent to the police he said he wanted revenge on the pro hero who locked him up. I tried asking All Might about it, because I don't remember hearing about Radial Point from any of his old interviews, but he kept telling me not to worry about it. That _has_ to mean something, right? He's _definitely_ the one who fought Radial Point, because he wouldn't tell me not to worry about it if there wasn't something to _not_ worry about. I mean, he probably doesn't want me to get nervous because he's not strong enough to fight Radial Point himself, but that only makes me more—"

Todoroki blinks as he struggles to follow Izuku's tangled logic. "Or he doesn't think it's something you should worry about," he interrupts before steam could spurt from Izuku's ears.

"Huh? Why shouldn't I worry about it then?"

Todoroki gives Izuku a strange little side look. "Because All Might wasn't the hero who stopped Radial Point the first time."

Izuku opens his mouth and then closes it. He knows All Might isn't the only professional hero in Japan—his stack of notebooks with crinkled cutouts of news articles sandwiched between the pages proves otherwise—but he's gotten in the habit of assuming every villain seeking vengeance aims to target All Might. _Especially_ now that his secret identity has been revealed.

"Wait, he's not? Then which pro hero stopped him?"

Todoroki's gaze shifts back to the path in front of them. "Endeavor," he says, his voice devoid of his previous amusement.

* * *

Aizawa's scowl deepens when Ashido's pink hair finally disappears out of his line of sight. He shifts his head ever so slightly, eyes drifting to where he had last seen the bulky white costume worn by Iida. However, he can't find the villain team again, not from this distance nor through the thick tree cover.

Gaudy, flashy costumes, which make for easy spotting for instructors, seem to be irresistible to teenagers—one of the few benefits of letting them design their own atrocious suits—and Aizawa can't even use _that_ to his advantage. He had tried picking out a few students, those with brighter colors, but now he's lost them as well.

(Looking for Asui or Midoriya in this forest is hopeless. With all that green, he doesn't even bother.)

"Can you see any of them?" he asks his coworkers, not tearing his gaze from where he had last seen the vibrant yellow of Kaminari's hair. It hadn't been far from where he had last seen Iida's costume.

 _It looks like the villains are working together._

"Uh, yeah, of course," Present Mic says after a squinting pause. "Bakugou's over by all those trees. Just saw him burst through a minute ago."

 _For the most part,_ Aizawa amends. He isn't surprised. In fact, it's part of the reason he assigned Bakugou to that team. To make things interesting.

Aizawa scans over the exercise field again, rubbing his eyes when his second sweep comes up just as empty. He knows he's being paranoid— _the hell? is this because of how nervous all the students were about that escaped villain?—_ but a part of him is tempted to get Present Mic to call the teams back for a briefing before they wander even further from supervision.

 _Especially now. None of us,_ he glances from Present Mic to Midnight, _have a speed advantage if we need to get down there quickly._

(Whatever complaints he might have had about Toshinori's simple teaching style, he couldn't argue against his response time in a crisis.)

"Oh, wait! I think I just saw a flash of red coming towards us!" Midnight almost sounds excited, like she's playing a game rather than supervising a mission. "It's either Yaoyorozu or Kirishima!"

Aizawa's gaze follows where her whip points. A flash of light reflects off Iida's headpiece.

"That's the villain team. They're coming back this way. It looks like they might have found one of the bomb pieces."

 _Good. The closer they are, the less I have to worry._

"It looks like there's someone over in that clearing." Present Mic squints, dropping his shades further down on his nose to get a better look. "It's just one of them, but their costume's way dark. I can't make it out, but maybe it's Todoroki?"

"Can't be—I saw him with Midoriya a few minutes ago."

"Then maybe Kaminari?"

"Doubt it. There's no mistaking that _hair_."

Aizawa listens to their debate for a few seconds before deciding that it'll be easier if he just looks himself. He spots the clearing at the very edge of the exercise field and sees a dark figure moving along the tree line. He leans forward, trying to spot any defining characteristic that could help him identify the student.

 _Wait—what's that in the center—_

"Sensei! Sensei!"

Uraraka's waving arm in his periphery steals his attention. A pair of floating gloves trails close behind her.

"We found something!"

"It was huge—as big as Shoji! And made of metal! And there were wires attached to it!" Hagakure's gloves flail wildly as she tries to approximate the size and shape. "We thought it was part of the exercise—"

"But it didn't look anything like the pictures you showed us. _Plus,_ I could hear ticking when I got close!"

Aizawa frowns and strides towards them. "Show me where it is."

* * *

"I see something up ahead," Todoroki says, curling the fingers of his left hand into a loose fist as he speeds up his gait.

"Wait, Todoroki-kun! It could be a trap set up by the others!" Izuku calls out, stopping short of the tree cover. He frowns at the large metal object in the center of the clearing and glances down.

 _Huh? Footsteps?_ He squats down and sees a set of handprints with thick, offset fingers.

 _Those must belong to Tsu-chan._ He counts the footprints, noting four distinct patterns in the dust.

 _No—wait, five._ There's a fifth set of footprints several meters away from the others. Izuku straightens up and wanders closer to them.

 _I wonder who else has been here. The soles aren't ridged like Kacchan's boots. They might be from Aizawa-sensei's shoes or maybe they belong to the pro hero who put this decoy here._

Izuku nods, feeling more confident that whatever Todoroki's circling, it's just another part of the exercise.

"It looks like the villains have been through here already. We should get going," he calls to Todoroki. Todoroki nods, tearing his narrowed gaze from the metal device before moving back towards Izuku.

"Maybe not all of them," a voice says.

A sharp giggle erupts from across the clearing. Todoroki halts mid-step, bending at the knees as his body tenses. Izuku looks around for any sign of the speaker.

 _That voice… It's familiar. Where have I—_ Izuku sees a flash of movement in the trees across from them.

"Todoroki-kun! It's him!" Izuku shouts, his red boots already moving in his friend's direction. If they work together, then they'll be able to stop Radial Point.

 _What did they say his quirk was again? Something to do with—_

A shimmering gold barrier erupts in front of him. Izuku digs his heels into the dirt in a desperate attempt to stop, but his momentum carries him forward and he smashes against the translucent wall. He stumbles backwards and lands hard on his backside, wincing as he touches his aching forehead.

"Midoriya!" Todoroki shouts, his concerned expression hazy through the barrier. Izuku struggles to his feet and pounds on the barrier with a balled fist.

 _It's solid. I can't get through._

His gut churns when he glances around the clearing and takes stock of the situation. It's more than a simple wall. It's an impossibly high, circular barrier that separates him from Todoroki and the metal device.

Izuku rears back a fist, feeling the buzzing energy of One for All flow across his skin. Maybe he can punch through it—

"Ah ah, I wouldn't, if I were you," Radial Point says, his tone teasing. "You'll just end up breaking your hand."

Izuku doesn't consider that much of a deterrent. He turns back towards the barrier.

"But if you break my barrier, then the bomb inside will hurt a lot more people than little Todoroki. Right now, that barrier is the only thing keeping you and your other classmates alive."

Izuku drops his fist and jerks his gaze towards the metal device. _It's a bomb?_

Todoroki reacts just as quickly, pivoting on a foot and racing towards the bomb with his right arm outstretched. Through the glittering haze of the wall, Izuku sees ice crusting along Todoroki's fingertips.

 _If he can freeze the mechanisms in the bomb—_

"Not so fast."

Before Todoroki can reach the bomb, a second barrier springs up around the device. Todoroki grunts in frustration and uses a quick pulse of ice to slow himself down before he collides with the barrier. He skids to a stop, smacking the barrier with the flat of a palm, just as unsuccessful as Izuku.

Izuku spins back to where he last heard Radial Point's voice. A slender man dressed in black steps out from the tree line, a hand planted on his bony hip.

 _It's him. He looks older than his arrest picture. More tired._ Izuku's gaze shifts from the deep circles under the man's eyes to his hollow cheeks.

Izuku balls his hands into fists and tenses his knees and thighs. He springs towards Radial Point, kicking up a cloud of dirt behind him. Radial Point reacts quickly, throwing up his exposed palms with a startled shout. A third barrier springs up between him and Izuku. Again, he's moving too fast to stop and he crashes into the blurred barrier with another pained groan.

Radial Point gawks down at him and for a moment Izuku wonders if he had come close to breaking through the barrier. He struggles to sit up, wincing at the pain in his shoulder.

"Midoriya! The first barrier!" Todoroki shouts. Izuku winces, his brain momentarily addled by his second collision, before he realizes that he can see Todoroki clearly again. He clambers to his feet, but the barrier returns seconds later. He jerks his attention back to Radial Point, noting that the villain's startled expression is no longer protected by one of his golden walls.

 _His quirk… Maybe he can only maintain a certain number of barriers at one time._ Izuku takes a wobbly step towards Radial Point, but the villain dives towards the safety of his larger barrier, slipping through the gossamer walls as if they were no more solid than air.

 _He can move through his barriers._ It would make things trickier for them, especially now that he and Todoroki were separated. Todoroki tenses, but he remains where he is. There's no point attacking when Radial Point can throw up another barrier.

Izuku spares a quick glance over his shoulders, towards the distant overlook where the others are watching. Surely something this massive would catch their attention. They just need to stall Radial Point until Aizawa-sensei could erase his quirk. Then the others could—

 _But what if the bomb is real?_

Izuku swallows and glances back to the bomb. He can't tell if Radial Point is bluffing, but with Todoroki trapped inside the barrier, he isn't eager to risk it.

 _However, if we stall for too long, Radial Point might grow bored and detonate it._ Izuku mashes his lips and glances to the side, debating over the best course of action.

Todoroki speaks first, arms crossed as he stares coolly at Radial Point.

"If this is your attempt to draw Endeavor here, I assure you it's a waste of time."

Izuku straightens up. _That's right—he wants vengeance on the pro hero who locked him up. Maybe that means we're the bait until the pro heroes show up._ He presses a hand against the glowing barrier and watches the strange light patterns that dance across his glove.

 _Still, his quirk seems to be more suited for defense,_ he muses, remembering the stunned look on Radial Point's face when Izuku nearly managed to hit him. _How does he plan on using it against a pro hero?_

"Killing pro heroes _would_ be a waste of time," Radial Point snarls with a curl of the lip. "Another one will take their place and then another and then another. It's like an endless cycle," he says, drawing loose circles in the air.

"Killing the hero won't do a damn thing. I thought that's what I really wanted but after watching the news and seeing everyone go on about the Hero Killer and the fall of All Might—well, it inspired me." He gives Todoroki and Izuku a humorless smile, his expression blurred through the haze of his barrier. "To destroy the cycle, I have to destroy their legacy. That's where it really hurts a hero."

Todoroki's eyes narrow. Izuku balls his fists.

"You're going to die, little Todoroki. And if you don't, your classmates will instead."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!** I have the remaining three chapters already planned/partially written, so hopefully this story should be wrapped up within the next couple of weeks.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Ahh, sorry about the delay. I literally had 95% of this finished forever ago, but I kept getting stuck on the same 500 words and I just spent the last two weeks glaring at it.

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

"You're going to die, little Todoroki. And if you don't, your classmates will instead."

Shouto bares his teeth in a grimace, but he remains silent. There's little he can do from the confines of Radial Point's barrier.

(And from his experiences with psychopaths, he knows if he waits a little bit longer, he'll hear the rest of Radial Point's plan.)

"This isn't the only bomb. There's another one planted near your classmates." He hears Midoriya suck in a breath through his teeth, but he doesn't tear his glare from Radial Point. "You have a choice to make, little Todoroki, but you won't be able to save everyone."

"A choice?"

"The bomb near your classmates will go off soon. Sooner than this one will. If you're as selfish as Endeavor, you can sit and wait for it to explode. I'm sure the blast will attract plenty of professional heroes, but they may be too busy picking up whatever's left of your friends to help _you_."

Shouto narrows his eyes. "And the other option?"

"You can try to fight your way out of my barriers and warn your friends. I'll even give you a head start." Radial Point snaps his fingers and the barrier around Todoroki disappears. "Of course, if you fight me then you'll be at risk," Radial Point adds. "My barrier is the only thing that'll save you from the bomb."

"Midoriya," Shouto begins in a low voice, flicking his gaze towards his friend. "Find the others and warn them. I'll distract Radial Point."

"Are you—"

"Ah ah," Radial Point tuts and shakes his index finger at Shouto. "No cheating allowed. The moment your friend disappears from my sight, I'll detonate both bombs." He pats a bulky mass in his coat pocket.

Shouto's eyes land on it. He takes a step towards Radial Point, creating a towering spiral of ice behind him. Radial Point's gaze reflexively drifts towards the explosion of motion and Shouto takes his chance to dive towards Radial Point before another barrier can surround him. He even uses a pump of fire from his left heel to propel him faster.

Shouto's quick movements attract Radial Point's attention and a barrier springs up around him. Shouto yanks his hand back before it's caught in the wall. He isn't sure what would happen to anything caught in the crosshairs, but he isn't about to risk a hand for it.

"Todoroki-kun! The second barrier's gone!"

Upon hearing Midoriya's shout, Shouto shifts his attentions back to the bomb, swinging his right arm in a downwards curve in its direction. However, before the wall of ice can connect, Radial Point throws his barrier to protect the bomb. The ice shatters in a thousand pieces upon striking the barrier. A shard of ice skitters across the dirt towards Radial Point. He crushes it under a boot with a deliberate, satisfying _crunch_.

"Is that all you've got? I'm disappointed."

"He's dropped his guard! He's exposed!"

Shouto's barred grimace deepens. He can see where this is going, but he sends another blast of ice towards Radial Point anyway. As expected, he retracts his barrier from the bomb and protects himself.

"The bomb! The bomb! It's open!"

 _He's treating this like a game. We keep taking turns, even if it's the same move each time._

He's never been a fan of endurance matches. And he's even less fond of the monotony.

However, there's little he can do but try the same tactic again.

Radial Point is fast, if predictable. When Shouto sends a stream of ice to dismantle the bomb, Radial Point sacrifices his personal barrier to protect it. In the split seconds it takes Shouto to shift gears and launch an offense attack on Radial Point, he's already returned his protective barrier.

He's growing tired and his right-side aches with cold. Even though Radial Point guards the bomb almost obsessively—and Shouto can't blame him, because like many things, bombs tend to be _flammable—_ he's hesitant to unleash his uncontrolled left side, especially in such tight conditions.

 _I need to come up with something new. A different move._ He mulls over the possibilities for a second, thinking of the various opponents he's struggled against in the past.

He scowls, realizing that this is a vastly different fight from the others. He always had room to move, to overwhelm his opponent with his quirk.

 _I need something unexpected._ He exhales, his breath coming out in foggy pants. The temperature is unnaturally cool; the residual cold from his shattered ice constructs remains trapped within the barrier like a gigantic refrigerator.

It gives him an idea.

Shouto spies the tower of ice he created several minutes earlier to distract Radial Point. He backs towards it and presses his left hand against the cool surface. The ice sizzles under his touch, steam rising and encircling him in a dense cloud. He presses harder and the chunk of ice—once twice his height—disappears in a swell of thick, concealing steam.

"Hey! What are you doing? Cut it out!"

He can see Radial Point's silhouette through the steam, jerking and swiveling as it looks for movement. He skids his right foot across the ground and a pillar of ice appears several meters away.

"Stop moving!"

The barrier around the bomb disappears and surrounds Shouto's ice decoy. The edge of his lip curls up in a grim smile as he soundlessly skirts around Radial Point's side on a slick of ice. He glances over his shoulder to see if the barrier is still around his decoy.

 _Damn._

His smile drops and he speeds up his pace, even though he knows he risks making more noise.

The steam condenses on the cool surfaces of his ice ramp and the decoy, turning his dense cover into a wet, soupy mess. He dives towards Radial Point's exposed back, but the villain turns around just in time, throwing up a protective barrier around himself.

Shouto drops to the ground, no closer than he was before his latest trick.

 _Damn,_ he repeats.

* * *

Izuku hates how helpless he feels, hovering just outside the edge while Todoroki stands alone against the villain. Seeing everything unfold in front of him somehow seems even worse, being an arm's length away and totally powerless.

Still, he doesn't hold back from shouting encouragements and warnings. He doesn't even know if Todoroki can hear him—he's so focused on Radial Point and the bomb—but at least it's something he can do and Izuku isn't about to let Todoroki fight this alone.

"Todoroki-kun! The second barrier's gone!"

"He's dropped his guard! He's exposed!"

"The bomb! The bomb! It's open!"

Izuku shifts his weight from foot to foot, frustration mounting. He wonders if running to get help from Aizawa-sensei or his other classmates would be a better use of his energies, but he doesn't want to abandon Todoroki, especially with Radial Point's threat looming overhead.

(And even if Todoroki blocks Radial Point's vision with steam, he isn't sure how long the cover will last. He shudders when he imagines racing to find the others, only to hear the heart stopping sound of an explosion at his back.)

He holds his breath when he catches a blur of blue skirting around the edge of the steam. He can't hear footsteps over the hissing of the steam, which leads him to suspect that Todoroki's skating along the edge of the barrier.

 _He did something similar when he fought Kacchan at the tournament. It caught Kacchan off-guard too._

Izuku keeps his encouraging shout trapped between his teeth. He doesn't want to alert Radial Point to Todoroki's plan.

However, Todoroki's attempt to surprise Radial Point with a back attack falls flat when his steam cover dissipates. Radial Point spins around with a cry, still startled by Todoroki's sudden appearance, but he manages to produce a barrier in time, stopping a wave of ice Todoroki sends towards him with a desperate jerk of his hand. Todoroki drops to the muddy ground and rolls away, climbing back to his feet with teeth bared again.

Now that the steam has vanished, Izuku can see everything clearly again. _Wait. The one around the decoy is still there. That means—that was a third barrier! Can he do more than three? I thought he was limited to two at a time._

His brow furrows as he swivels his head, taking stock of his surroundings outside the barrier. The grass is charred a few meters away, the dirt slick with residual ice. He realizes with a startled blink that his outstretched fingertips no longer brush the barrier's smooth walls and it takes a few steps to get close again.

He bites his lip, looking back at the shimmering curtain that keeps him stranded on the outside. _It's been moving inward this whole time. The barrier is getting smaller…? Is he trying to control Todoroki's attacks? Confine him?_

 _No—that's not it. The second barrier is tightening too._ Izuku pinches his chin as he considers the situation, eyes darting from the bomb to the third barrier protecting Radial Point.

 _Of course! It's not the number of barriers—it's the size! His quirk limits the total size of the barriers._

"The barriers—his quirk is limited!" Radial Point glances over sharply in Izuku's direction, further bolstering his confidence that he's on to something. "There are two possibilities: the limit might be determined by the total area or the total circumference length. However, I don't think he can go over some value without affecting the other barriers."

Izuku isn't sure what insights this might give them, but he keeps wracking his brain, because Radial Point looks rattled by his outburst and it's the first time Izuku's felt marginally useful.

 _Think… What does this mean? How can we use this to our advantage?_

"It's limited, huh?" Todoroki considers this with a tilt of the head. He takes a step towards Radial Point, fire bursting from his left palm. The flames cast distorted shimmers and shadows on the barrier walls, like passing headlights through stained glass. He moves closer, the flames billowing up his arm and along his shoulder.

"Stop right there!" Radial Point increases the size of his personal barrier to keep Todoroki at a greater distance. The wall around the bomb flickers. "Stop!"

 _He's backing away from Todoroki's flames, like he's scared of something._ Izuku considers what Radial Point had ranted about earlier, why Todoroki was his target. _That's right! He was apprehended by Endeavor!_

 _The more distance he puts between himself and Todoroki, the more space his barrier takes up. If he's too distracted by trying to get away from the fire, his concentration might slip long enough for us to get to the bomb._

"Todoroki-kun—more fire! He's afraid of it!"

"Shut the hell up, you brat!" Radial Point spares another glare in Izuku's direction before snapping his fingers, throwing up another barrier around Todoroki. "And I told you to stop moving!"

Todoroki stops mid-stride, eyes narrowing at being enclosed again. Izuku takes stock of the barriers again.

 _There's still the big one that's keeping me out. And the one around the bomb. But he had to drop his protective barrier to stop Todoroki from moving_. Izuku runs his tongue along the edge of his teeth. Without Izuku being able to help, stopping Todoroki from moving works just as effectively as a protective barrier.

 _It's some sort of puzzle. If I can just figure it out…_

It feels like they're falling into a rut—just when they've pushed Radial Point to the edge of breaking, he finds a way to stunt their progress. An endless loop of throwing up walls and diverting attention.

He can tell Todoroki is growing increasingly frustrated by the repetitive nature of the fight as well. _And now that he's using three barriers, the fighting space is getting smaller. It's really limiting what Todoroki can do. He can't do his usual massive attacks without risking secondary damage to the bomb._

Izuku bites his lip as he glances back at the bomb. _How long have we been fighting?_ _Didn't Radial Point say our time was limited?_

 _If we don't try something new soon, we'll run out of time._

"We need to do—"

Seconds later, Todoroki's left side explodes in a raging spiral of flames, funneled upwards to an impossible height by Radial Point's confining barrier.

* * *

Aizawa stops short at the sight of the metal device and mashes his lips before the first few words on his tongue can slip out.

"There it is, Sensei! What is it?" Uraraka moves closer, but Aizawa stops her with an outstretched arm.

"Wait there," he says, circling the device slowly. Now that he's only a few meters away, he can hear the ticking sound that Uraraka mentioned earlier.

 _Whatever this is, it's not part of the exercise. It's active._ He glances back to where he last saw Uraraka and notes with a frustrated sigh that several other students have gathered around her.

 _When did they get here?_

"Aizawa-sensei—what is that?"

"Is that a bomb?"

"I didn't know we were participating in the training exercise too!"

He pinches the bridge of his nose and turns back to his students.

 _Why?_

"You were to stay with Present Mic and Midnight and observe the training exercise." He can't blame them for their curiosity—it's second nature for young heroes. Still, dealing with this problem would be a hell of a lot easier without worrying about their safety as well.

"That means something's wrong, right? This is serious?" Sero gestures towards the device and a worried whisper rises from his students.

Aizawa considers his next words but decides there's no point in hiding the truth from them.

"It's likely that this is an active bomb. This is not part of the exercise, so you should leave this to myself and the other professional heroes."

"Is it going to go off soon?" Hagakure asks, straining on her tiptoes to see higher up on the bomb. "Can you tell?"

The ticking speeds up and grows louder. Hagakure's boots stumble backwards and the other students shuffle away reflexively. Aizawa narrows his eyes. It seems like they don't have much time.

"Go get Present Mic," he says, glancing towards Ojiro. Ojiro nods, leaping forward with a forceful spring of his tail. He turns towards the other students. "Return to the overhang."

"We can help you," Sero counters, clenching a fist to his chest and grinning.

"There must be something we can do, Sensei."

Aizawa eyes his assembled students before relenting with another exhausted sigh. "Very well. Uraraka, Sero, Shoji, Sato—come with me. Tokoyami, use Dark Shadow to supervise the bomb. If anything changes, alert the others and leave immediately."

Tokoyami nods and braces himself as Dark Shadow bursts from his chest and hovers around the bomb. "We will let you know," he says.

 _Good. Hopefully that should give us some notice._

His other students gather around in him in a semicircle, some wearing determined expressions while others look less confident.

"Uraraka, I need you to lighten the bomb." She nods and takes a step towards the bomb, but Aizawa stops her with a sweep of the hand. "Wait, first remove your own gravity."

Uraraka tilts her head. "Why?"

"The lighter you are, the faster they can pull you back." Uraraka glances at Sero and her other classmates before understanding. Sero catches on just as quickly, yanking a strip of tape from his elbow dispenser and passing it to Uraraka. She wraps it around her wrist and he pulls a few more meters of tape out, stepping backwards with Shoji and Sato. It's not much of a safety net, but she's grateful for something.

"Ready?" Aizawa asks.

Uraraka nods before tapping her own chest and feeling her heels rise off the ground. With bouncy, lengthy strides, she hops closer to the bomb, using Dark Shadow to help anchor herself. She takes a deep breath before pressing her fingertips against the cool metal of the bomb. She can feel the paneling rattle under her palm and she knows it isn't just her quirk that's making her stomach uneasy.

Dark Shadow darts back to Tokoyami and murmurs something in his ear before returning to Uraraka's side.

"Dark Shadow believes the bomb is unstable. It may go off soon."

Aizawa nods. _Where's Hizashi? He should be here by now._

"Yooooo, you called, Eraserhead?"

 _Took you long enough to get here._

Present Mic hoists an eyebrow and glances over his glasses when he notices two of his students are hovering near the bomb. "Jeez, you weren't kidding, huh?" he says to a wide-eyed Ojiro, who hurries to stand near Sero and the others.

"Once Uraraka and Dark Shadow get this out of the trees, can you send it further up?"

"Are you sure this is safe?" One of his blond eyebrows dart upwards.

"I never said it would be. But if your quirk sets the bomb off, then at least the soundwaves might counter the force of the explosion."

"Well, guess that's better than nothing." Present Mic splays his arms and open palms out in a "what can you do" shrug. "I'll try to adjust my frequency then."

Present Mic inhales and puffs out his chest, giving the thumbs up to Uraraka and Tokoyami. They exchange glances before she and Dark Shadow gently lift the bomb off the ground. Uraraka winces as the metal creaks under her light touch, but the bomb wobbles upwards in the air as intended.

As Dark Shadow maneuvers the bomb through a gap in the tree tops, Aizawa gestures towards Shoji and Sato, who quickly reel Uraraka back to a safe distance. She continues to bob, too nervous to turn on her own gravity in fear of accidentally returning the gravity on the bomb.

"Tokoyami—and Dark Shadow—you can take cover now." Tokoyami nods and Dark Shadow darts back towards his chest with a relieved _whew._

Without waiting for prompting from Aizawa, Present Mic leans back and releases a shrill yell. The students wince and clamp their hands over their ears. Aizawa holds a hand to his brow like a makeshift visor as he watches the bomb accelerate higher in the sky. It explodes several hundred meters in the air in a burst of fire and debris. They can't hear the explosion itself, deafened by the overwhelming, high-pitched power of Present Mic's quirk, but Aizawa feels a low rumble reverberate through his chest. The sensation almost reminds him of fireworks.

Present Mic closes his mouth and ceases his yelling, but the trees still tremble with a residual echo. Aizawa tears his gaze from the dissipating smoke in the sky.

 _Crisis adverted. Unfortunate that we weren't able to disarm it and locate the source. Still,_ he muses, glancing at his wide-eyed students, momentarily stunned by the loud noises, _they did well._

"It's safe,"' he announces, raising his voice so they can hear him.

His students breathe a collective sigh of relief and Uraraka finally allows herself to deactivate her quirk, dropping back down to solid ground with a wide smile.

"That was amazing, Sensei!" she shouts over the muffled ringing in her ear, rubbing absently at her earlobe as if it could help restore her full hearing.

Sero grimaces as he lowers his hands from his ears. He shares a sympathetic look with Shoji, who had the foresight to retract his ear appendages. "Uggh. Now I know how Bakugou feels. No wonder he's always angry, considering he has to put up with all that noise."

Aizawa clears his throat and his students stand quickly to attention. "Although you should have remained on the overlook with Midnight, you all did very well, considering the circumstances."

"High praise from Sensei," Hagakure whispers in Uraraka's ear, resting a gloved hand on her shoulder.

Uraraka turns and blinks at Hagakure. She hadn't known Hagakure was still with them. "What?" she asks, her voice still louder than usual.

Aizawa sighs and turns back to the path that leads to the overlook.

 _We may have to put the training exercise on hold while this is investigated. Hopefully this got the students' attention and they're returning to the overlook._ Aizawa doesn't relish the thought of tracking down ten teenagers through the forest.

An explosion of light and color erupts ahead of them. Ojiro immediately springs at the nearest tree, using his tail to hoist himself to the top. Dark Shadow bursts from Tokoyami's chest and weaves through the branches to get a better view.

Aizawa hand hovers reflexively over his capture cloth. _Another bomb?_

Ojiro drops back to the ground, eyes wide. "It's—it's a huge column of fire! It came from the training field!"

Dark Shadow whispers in Tokoyami's ear. "We are too far for Dark Shadow to see more, but it is indeed sizeable," he repeats the message.

Aizawa narrows his eyes before picking up his pace to the overlook. His students jog behind him, exchanging worried looks.

This _is why I hate supervising field exercises._

* * *

Jiro hears it first, halting mid-step with a soured expression. Her teammates pause and look back at her, mildly concerned for what could have caused such a sudden reaction.

"Do you hear someone coming?" Kaminari wants to know. "Should we hide?"

She shakes her head but doesn't offer any clarification.

They don't have to wonder for long, however, as the sound finally reaches them several seconds later. It's muffled by the distance, but it still causes them to exchange a few raised eyebrows.

"Was that…screaming?" Tsu asks, tilting her head and tapping her chin.

"I think it's Present Mic. When Koda and I faced him in the final exam, we could still hear his quirk over a mile away." Jiro pauses for a moment, reviewing the sounds she had picked up. "There was another sound somewhere in there too. Deeper, like maybe an explosion?"

"The explosion could be from Bakugou. He might have tried to get above the trees to see what Present Mic was doing." Iida glances back to Jiro. "Could you distinguish anything else?"

She shakes her head. "Nope. The distance is too far to make out any kind of words."

"If we're scattered, then it might have been a way for Aizawa-sensei to call us all back. Have we run out of time?"

Iida checks the timer in his forearm panel and frowns. "We still have ten minutes left?" It comes out more like a question than a statement.

"Wait—does that mean the other team found all the bomb pieces then? Are we…done?" Kaminari scratches his head and looks around their loose semicircle.

"I thought Sensei would have let it play out till the end." Jiro almost looks disappointed. "I was looking forward to rubbing it in to Momo when we won."

"I can see the overlook from here. We might as well head back and see what happened." They head across the open area where they first gathered. Tsuyu catches a flare of light out of the corner of her eyes and turns.

 _"Kero…"_ she croaks, prompting the others to turn as well.

"Is that fire?" Kaminari asks, eyes wide. Jiro nods, lips parted in awe. Only two of their classmates are capable of that much firepower, but even this seems excessive.

"It's coming from the clearing. The place where we saw that decoy device."

 _Bakugou must have found the others,_ Iida muses, mashing his lips together. He glances at the observation deck over his shoulder before shaking his head. _Aizawa-sensei may have called us back for a reason, but something's happening over there. If Bakugou is involved, it could spiral out of control._

"We should investigate," Tsuyu says before Iida can speak. "Until Aizawa-sensei tells us otherwise, we should treat this as part of the exercise. Bakugou's still on our team and he might need our help." She heads towards the trees, Jiro trailing close behind.

Kaminari offers a weak chuckle— _because that's a_ lot _of fire—_ but he follows them anyway.

 _Who needs to assemble a bomb when you have King Explosion Murder on your side?_

* * *

He's on the opposite side of the exercise field when he sees the column of fire. He twists his body in midair to get a better view, dropping onto the nearest tree top when he ceases his explosions.

 _The fuck?_

He remains perched on his branch and watches as the flames billow higher before dying down. He squints, not sure if his eyes are playing tricks on him, because it looks like the smoke is shimmering.

 _Whatever. That has to be that damn Half 'n Half bastard. No one else could do that._

Bakugou grins and cracks his knuckles before launching himself back into the air with a volley of explosions.

 _That means Hair-for-Brains and Deku can't be that far behind._

* * *

"Ooooh, woow," Ashido gasps, shielding her eyes and squinting at the fire column. "That has to be Todoroki, right?"

"Is it some sort of flare? D'you think they found a piece?"

"If they did, he's drawing a lot of attention to their location. I wonder if something's wrong," Yaoyorozu murmurs, pressing her lips tightly together.

"But… if something _is_ wrong, then—well, I'm just saying, Todoroki doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would call for help for something small. And if he's still with Midoriya, then I don't know what would be serious enough to make him do _that."_ Kirishima gestures in the direction of the flames with a shrug.

"Bakugou, maybe?"

Ashido scratches the hair near her horn, swiveling her head from Kirishima to Yaoyorozu. "So, uh, what do we do then? Do we go help or…?"

"Wait—what if it's part of their plan? It wouldn't surprise me if Midoriya's come up with an idea to make our jobs easier," Yaoyorozu counters. "If they distract Bakugou and get the villains to come to them, then we'll have less resistance when looking for the bomb pieces. Aizawa-sensei didn't say we _all_ had to remain uncaptured to win."

"That's a pretty bold idea," Kirishima says with an upwards quirk of an eyebrow. "How can they be sure the other team would go after them?" He glances over his shoulder. "That's… kinda intimidating. And we're _on_ his team."

"Hey—that still doesn't answer my question! Do we go towards the fire or away from it?"

"It would be bad if we ended up getting in their way…" Yaoyorozu frowns. "Of course, that's assuming that they have a plan. They could actually be in trouble and need our help."

"But if Todoroki and Midoriya are really in trouble, shouldn't we go get Sensei and the others?"

"Uggh, I wish we had some way to ask them," Kirishima says, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Something about this doesn't feel right, but I can't figure out what's off."

Yaoyorozu hesitates before opening her mouth to speak. "I think—" she cuts off abruptly when Kaminari bursts from the trees and collides with her. They tumble to the ground with mutually surprised shouts. Ashido and Kirishima hurry to separate them and help them back to their feet.

"See! I told you I heard voices over there!" Jiro announces as the rest of the villain team appear.

"You didn't say they were _this_ close," Kaminari scowls at her. "Good thing I wasn't set to stun."

"You're the villains, remember?" Kirishima reminds him, rapping his knuckles lightly against Kaminari's headphones. "We're _supposed_ to be fighting each other."

"And you just made our jobs a whole lot easier." Ashido grins as she holds up her fists.

"We weren't looking for you," Tsuyu says and Ashido drops her hands.

"Huh? You weren't?"

"We were running after Bakugou. He passed over us not too long ago and said, uhh," Kaminari pauses at Iida's pinched expression.

"Let me guess—he told you to catch up?" Kirishima leans forward with a lopsided grin.

"Something like that," Jiro says with a dry smile.

Yaoyorozu frowns and fans out her hands. "Wait, if you were following Bakugou, then that means he wasn't in the area when that fire happened?"

"You saw it too, huh?"

"Kinda hard to miss. It was like a _thousand_ meters in the air!"

"Err, I think that's a bit of an exag—"

"That isn't the only strange thing," Jiro interrupts with a shake of the head. "Earlier we heard Present Mic using his quirk. For a long time, too."

"Huh? That was him? We weren't sure what that was." Yaoyorozu exchanges shrugs with Ashido.

"We thought it meant the exercise was over."

Kirishima shakes his head. "Don't know why Sensei would want us to stop. We weren't even close to finding any of the bomb parts either."

"If something's wrong, then it might have something to do with that." Tsuyu's eyes slide towards where they had last seen the column of fire.

"There's only one way to find out."

* * *

Izuku's brain momentarily short circuits upon seeing a tower of writhing flames only a few meters away from where he stands. His first horrified thought is that the bomb had gone off and he was deafened by the sound. However, he gradually becomes aware of the flames popping and crackling, reminding him that it's his classmate who's the source of all the fire.

It takes Radial Point a few moments longer to realize what's going on. He stumbles back from the column of flames with a shaky gasp and a softly shaking head. He even throws up an extra protective barrier around himself, reducing the size of the main barrier's perimeter again.

 _That's four barriers now. This might be our chance._

"Stop! Stop doing that! You'll—you'll set off the bomb! You'll kill yourself and your friend!"

If anything, Todoroki seems encouraged by Radial Point's shouts. Izuku catches a flash of his concentrated expression through a break in the flames.

 _Is he doing it to scare Radial Point?_ He can feel sweat bead along his forehead and in the nape of his neck, but he still has to suppress the urge to shudder. _Honestly, it's scaring me a bit._

Izuku swallows, his throat dry and parched by the heat seeping through the barrier. In the months he's spent with Todoroki—seeing the deadpan sarcasm and all the muted smiles when Izuku invites Todoroki to join him and the others for lunch and watching Todoroki slowly thaw—he's forgotten how truly _terrifying_ the son of the new number one hero can be.

He tilts his head back, still in awe by the sheer amount of firepower Todoroki can maintain in such confined spaces. It's probably less than what he's displayed in the past during the sports festival or some of their more recent training exercises, but the funneling effect from the barrier pushes the flames ever higher, making it seem far more impressive.

 _Wait a minute…_

His first thought is that Todoroki is lessening his flames, but it takes a second glance for Izuku to realize that Radial Point's barrier around Todoroki is growing in height as well, stretching up higher and higher to contain the flames. Izuku follows some of the smoke—the first few tendrils that escaped before Radial Point raised the barrier—as it drifts over the largest barrier.

 _It's like a fortress without a roof._ Izuku eyes the external barrier height, noting how it's significantly shorter than the barrier keeping Todoroki's flames at bay. _I don't think his quirk is limited by the perimeter of the barriers. It looks… it looks like he's limited by the surface area of the barrier itself._

 _He's too focused on trying to keep Todoroki's flames contained. He isn't paying attention to how his other barriers are lowering._

Izuku tenses his knees and thighs and springs several dozen meters into the air, sailing over the first barrier with surprising ease. Radial Point only notices Izuku's intrusion after his iron soled boot smashes into the side of his barrier, creating thin, hairline cracks throughout the shimmering wall. Izuku falls backwards, his legs still jittering from such a jarring impact.

He rolls over and climbs back to his feet, already panting from the sweltering heat. It had been smothering outside the first barrier, but now that he's in the middle of the action, he feels like he's leaped into an oven.

 _How can Todoroki stand this?_ He doesn't even want to imagine how intense it would be to stand in the center of the flame column.

"What have you done?" Radial Point shouts, his gaze jumping from the tiny cracks to Izuku's red shoes. Upon hearing Radial Point's shouting, Todoroki stops his flames and stares intently at them, waiting for his chance.

 _Now that it's two against one, he looks rattled,_ Izuku notes as he drops down into an offensive crouch. _If I stay close to him, he won't be able to block me out again._

However, Radial Point seems more focused on the cracks in his barrier than Izuku's presence. "You've—you've…" Izuku follows Radial Point's wide-eyed stare and notices that the cracks are lengthening, spreading through the barrier like wildfire. He takes a hasty step backwards as Radial Point's defensive barrier shatters, dusting the ground and his hair and clothes with a fine golden powder.

"You've ruined it…"

Radial Point sinks to his knees, mumbling incoherently in his palms. The remaining barriers flicker and crumble, the same golden powder dissipating in the breeze.

"Thanks, Midoriya," Todoroki says, stepping free from his charred ring of dirt to stand next to Izuku.

 _Is this it? We won? Just like that?_

"No problem." He stares down at Radial Point for a moment longer, surprised by the sudden change in the villain's demeanor once he was defeated.

 _He never really was a major villain to begin with, I guess. Just angry._

"Midoriya-chan! Todoroki-chan!"

Izuku sees Tsuyu and several of the other members from the villain team hurrying towards them. He blinks and realizes his own team is close behind.

 _They're safe._ He sighs and shakes his head with a relieved smile. _Radial Point's threat was just a bluff._

"We saw the fire!"

"Are you alright—wait, who's that?"

"Hey, is that-?" Kaminari skids to a stop. The others freeze in an awkward semicircle around the clearing, staggered several meters from Izuku, Todoroki, and Radial Point.

"Now we're all going to die…" Radial Point's murmuring grows louder in the unsettling silence. Izuku inhales sharply, exchanging glances with Todoroki.

"The bomb—" Todoroki says, twisting his upper body and stretching out his right hand towards it.

"It's too late. The countdown can't be stopped."

" _DE-KUU_!"

"Three…"

Izuku jerks his head up to see Bakugou soaring over the trees towards him. _Everyone's coming closer—they're coming closer to the bomb. They can't…_

"Kacchan! Everyone! Stop! Get away!" Izuku shouts as loud as he can, feeling the words burn in his throat as he forces them out. "You have to get out of here! It's a bomb!"

"Two…"

He can see the panic flair on their faces. Despite all their courage and ingenuity, a few fleeting seconds to stop a bomb is a feat none of them can handle alone. Kirishima steps in front of Yaoyorozu and Ashido, his skin hardening. The engines in Iida's leg whirl furiously.

He spins back towards Todoroki, feeling the world tilt and shift in slow motion. Todoroki's right hand hovers several inches from the bomb, his fingers surprisingly steady, yet free of ice. He exhales slowly, his breath coming out as a misty fog despite the lingering heat.

 _He's too close to the bomb. But… But if I pour everything into it, I can—_

"One…"

Todoroki's head swivels sharply, his narrowed gaze raking over each of them in an instant. Izuku tenses his legs, trying to figure out his target, whether it'll be the back of Todoroki's vest or the bomb.

Then Todoroki drops to the ground, right palm smacking the ground in an explosion of ice, and everything goes white and cold.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!** Lemme know what you think about _that_ cliffhanger!


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** Ahhh, I'm so sorry this is so late. Grad school has been a literal punch to the throat this semester, so I haven't had as much free time to write.

(Do you know how excruciating it is to have all these ideas ricocheting in your head and not being able to write them? Well, probably about as painful as waiting for an update, amiright?)

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

* * *

Aizawa bursts through the edge of the trees but immediately braces himself with a forearm over his face. He's buffeted by a strong, frigid gust, harsh enough to make his eyes water and branches snap. He hears his students groan and cry out in surprise behind him.

(He also thinks one of them might have been blown over, judging from the loud _thud,_ but they're all up and standing again when he glances back at them.)

The moment the wind drops, he strides towards a shivering Midnight.

"Have the other students returned?"

She doesn't look at him, but she shakes her head numbly. She's too focused on the training field, brow furrowed as if she's searching for something. When he follows her gaze, his own eyes narrow at the sight.

"Is that what I think that is?" Present Mic appears beside them, letting loose an impressed whistle. "Todoroki's special technique sure is getting stronger. This one looks even bigger than the one from the Sports Festival."

"It might be, though look at the shape. It's nothing like his other ice walls. And the way he made it was different. It exploded out from the center instead of going in one direction," Midnight says, tilting her head.

"Really? That might explain those freaky sides. It looks like some kind of bowl or something."

Aizawa watches their breath swirl as they talk, wispy clouds of words and exhales. The chill from the blast of wind hasn't dissipated yet, lingering in the air.

 _We're at least a kilometer away from them. To feel the chill from this distance… This is nothing like what Todoroki's done in the past._

His lips tighten into a pucker. Compared to Midoriya or Bakugou, he wouldn't have considered Todoroki to be as prone to reckless overexertion (though after a year, he's fully aware of how low that bar is). He had always seemed like one of the more level-headed of his problem students, so the sheer size of the ice construct makes him uneasy.

"What happened before Todoroki created the ice?"

Aizawa remembers the column of fire that brought them racing back to the edge. Another worrisome problem to consider.

"Right after Ojiro came back to get Present Mic about the bomb, I called the school for reinforcements in case it was part of something bigger."

"Who answered the phone?"

She winces. "Toshinori."

Aizawa sighs. He can picture his coworker's frantic reaction in his head, trying to pump himself up through the pain to save their students. He can't blame him, but it would be easier trying to resolve this situation without a compromised Toshinori throwing himself into the fray.

 _Of all the teachers who could have answered, we reach the one who_ shouldn't _get involved._

As if sensing her coworker's thoughts, Midnight quickly continues. "I told him that you and Hizashi had the bomb covered, but that he should still pass the message along to Principal Nezu. He didn't sound happy, but I told him he wasn't needed here."

He nods. "Good. Then what happened?"

"I was about to contact the police when Todoroki set off his flames. I couldn't see why from this distance. I don't even know if it had anything to do with the training exercise."

"Are you sure it was him?"

 _What happened? To make him swing between extremes like that, there must have been another reason._

"Had to be. Bakugou wasn't nearby and he's the only other one who could have created that much fire. Immediately afterwards, I saw him and the other students head towards the clearing." She nods towards the massive ice construct. "Then, that happened. It was all so fast. I couldn't get a good look before the ice blocked everything."

"The other pros from school should be here soon, but I don't know what caused that," she finishes. "I thought I saw smoke rise up from the center a minute ago, but that's the only thing I've noticed since."

Aizawa considers her story with a slow, thoughtful nod. If it had been a simple escalation of a training exercise, he wouldn't have hesitated to intervene and subdue quirks. However, the presence of the bomb was an unexpected complication and he's glad he heard the full story from Midnight, even if it cost him a few extra minutes and he didn't learn anything new.

 _Something must have interfered with their exercise._

Midnight and Present Mic exchange frowns while Aizawa surveys his students, noting their concerned, yet focused expressions.

"Stay here," he tells them, but it's a half-hearted order. He doesn't bother wasting the breath to tack on an extra warning, because he knows they're eager to help their classmates.

They're heroes in training, after all. Leaping into danger is what they do.

(Though, as proud as he is, he wishes they would listen to him at least once.)

* * *

Izuku's first breath is so sharp and crisp that for a moment he forgets to take a second one. His eyes fly open and all he can see is a foggy whiteness.

 _What…? Am I dea—?_

The panic starts to set in when the cold seeps through his uniform, chilling him to the bone.

 _It's so, so cold… Why can't I move? Is this what it feels like to die?_

He doesn't realize that he's on the verge of hyperventilating until the aching numbness in his chest from the dry, frigid air reminds him that dead people can't breathe. He forces his next exhale out as slowly as he can until he feels the panic drain from his body.

 _I'm not dead. Just…_ He tries to crane his neck and see if there's something more than this endless white surrounding him, but his shoulders bump against something hard and he can't turn anymore. He tries to stretch his arms and legs out, but they're tucked close to his chest.

 _Just trapped._

He can feel an icy cold leeching into his elbows when they graze against the hard wall keeping him in place. He can still move, so he isn't worried about escaping yet. His biggest concern is trying to remember what happened that led him to be encased in ice. He sluggishly churns through his fractured memories and he feels his eyelids droop.

 _Stop! Wake up!_ There's a jarring commotion in the back of his mind. He belatedly realizes it's his own thoughts screaming back at him, urging him to stay alert.

 _Something was wrong… What was it—wait, Radial Point! The bomb!_

Izuku inhales another piercing gulp of air, but this time it clears away some of his lulling drowsiness. _That's right. Todoroki must have done something to try to stop it. He must be the reason I'm still alive._

He shifts again, trying to maneuver himself into a more comfortable position, but he only manages to knee himself in the nose. He wrinkles his nose, eyes watering from the unexpected pain. He supposes he should be grateful that he can move, even if it's a few centimeters. He shudders when he imagines how cold it would be if he were completely trapped in ice.

(Though, he's been shivering since waking up, so it might have been a particularly nasty quake from the cold rather than apprehension.)

 _The way it is now, I might be able to get out. If I can focus…_

Izuku closes his eyes and feels One for All buzz around his body. The energy is strangely calming and warm and he's tempted to keep it flowing for a few extra moments, but he decides he'd rather not risk rupturing his internal organs from extended exposure. He clenches his bicep before smashing his elbow as fast as he can against the icy wall imprisoning him. The sensation is jarring and he feels his fingertips go numb, but it's no different than when he bangs his elbow against the wall.

The ice explodes outwards. A swell of cool air streams through the hole, buffeting his hair and uniform. He groans and wriggles out of the hole, an undignified slither until he can extend his legs and push himself out the rest of the way.

 _Who cares what it looks like. I'm out now and that's what's important._ Still, it's not something he's eager to repeat in a hurry. He rubs the stiffness at the back of his neck before snapping his head up, remembering that he's in the middle of a battlefield.

 _At least, it used to be._

He blinks a few times before he can recognize enough landmarks to reassure himself that he's still in the clearing. The ground around him is coated in ice, thick enough to obscure the dirt and grass below. He turns his head, seeing nothing but ice below him, around him, even above him.

Izuku feels like he's sitting at the base of a bowl, distant edges sloping upwards and surrounding him. He can only see the very tips of the tallest trees peeking over the lip of the ice. He knows he shouldn't be scared—at least, not of the ice, though the sheer size is intimidating—but it feels too confining for him to be at ease.

(Too much like the barriers he struggled against.)

He whips his head around. _The others!_

Scattered around him are various sized lumps of ice. He can't see through to the contents inside, but he fervently hopes they hold his classmates, safe and unharmed. He staggers towards them.

He doesn't have to wait long to find out. The pod nearest him rumbles and when Izuku squints he can see flares of red and orange bouncing within. He barely reacts in time, stumbling backwards as a chunk of ice flies up in the air, buoyed by a thick cloud of smoke. Izuku eyes where he last stood with a calm swallow, grateful he had escaped before Kacchan made his dramatic entrance.

"What the hell was that damn Half-n-half bastard thinking," Bakugou grumbles, rubbing his hands together rapidly and exhaling into his palms. His exposed shoulders and upper arms glow a rosy red and he seems more preoccupied with restoring feeling to his skin than shouting.

Izuku can hear sounds coming from the other pods. At the furthest back pod, there's the sound of clinking and scraping as Kirishima's hardened fist bursts through the ice. He breaks through completely with another well-timed punch.

"Sheesh," he says, gritting his teeth and glancing back at his pod. "I barely had enough room to move in there!"

Another pod sizzles and collapses, revealing Yaoyorozu and Ashido with acid dribbling from her splayed palms.

Yaoyorozu clutches her exposed torso, shuddering violently. "Th-th-this…" She clenches her teeth and shakes her head. " _Redesigning,"_ she manages to ground out with a disgusted shake of her head.

Kirishima nods, his skin relaxing to its normal softness. "Agreed," he says with a quick rub to his upper arms. "Seriously—now I know why all the pros wear sleeves."

A few meters away, a fourth pod rumbles before shattering and Jiro retracts her earplugs. She shrugs off her jacket and passes it to Yaoyorozu, who accepts it with a grateful smile before draping it over her shoulders.

Izuku watches on, smiling weakly. As each pod opens to reveal an uninjured classmate, some of the knots in his gut steadily loosen. They're rattled and shivering, but they're alive. Still, there's an overall uneasiness that keeps him on edge and he isn't sure why.

He takes stock of those gathered around him and notes that there are several pods sealed.

 _Who's missing? Let's see, from the other team there's—_

 _Wait… What about—_

Izuku pivots his upper body, taking a wide sweep of the clearing. He freezes when he looks back to where his pod was, lips parted in startled awe.

 _How did I miss that the first time?_

"Holy—" Kirishima whispers, following Izuku's gaze. Yaoyorozu and Jiro cease their conversation midsentence. Even Bakugou's scowl momentarily slips.

A few meters from where Izuku's pod was, the ice slopes up sharply. A massive chunk of ice towers above them, casting half of the field in shadow. When Izuku squints upwards, he can't quite tell where the ice ends and the sky begins.

 _That's—that's where the bomb is._

He refocuses on the largest chunk in the center of the field, noting how shards of metal seem to be suspended at strange, haphazard angles within the ice. They look as if they were frozen in time, halted mid-flight before they could spiral outwards and destroy.

 _Oh…_

 _Was,_ he amends his statement with a thick swallow. _That's where the bomb_ was _._

His brow furrows as he tries to reason through an explanation as to why they aren't in a million pieces. _Did Todoroki_ freeze _it? Or maybe he shattered the bomb before it could go off…?_

 _Wait!_ Izuku's eyes widen and the once muted panic in his stomach resurges with a vengeance.

 _Todoroki! That's where Todoroki was too!_

"T-Todoroki-kun is in there," he says, spinning around to face his classmates. "He was standing next to the bomb."

He feels a bit guilty that he hadn't searched for Todoroki immediately after escaping the ice, but like the others, he was justifiably awestruck by the frozen chaos around them.

"He hasn't gotten himself out yet?" Ashido asks with a worried frown. "With his quirk, he should have been the first one, right?"

"Something must be wrong," Yaoyorozu adds, pulling Jiro's jacket tighter around her shoulders. "We need to find him. Quickly."

"But how? That's a _lot_ of ice."

Bakugou narrows his eyes, flexing the fingers of his right hand, curling them into a tight fist. "Are you all dumbasses or somethin'? Just blast the bastard out." He loosens his fist and a few contained explosions rumble in his palm.

Before Izuku can interrupt, Kirishima throws an arm around Bakugou's shoulder and steers him away from the towering column of ice. "We'll go help the others. You guys get Todoroki out, okay?"

 _"Hey! Get your hands off me, you shi—"_

"Thanks, Kirishima-kun." Izuku sends Kirishima a grateful smile before he hauls a protesting Bakugou towards the other pods.

Izuku immediately refocuses his attention on the problem at hand, glancing around the loose semi-circle of his classmates. He notices with an uncomfortable blink that they're all staring at him.

 _Right… I was the one closest to the bomb when it happened. They don't even know about what happened with Radial Point._

He belatedly realizes that no one's brought up Radial Point since breaking through the ice. Izuku reluctantly adds Radial Point's name to their list of "things to worry about", but he makes sure it's at the bottom. Rescuing Todoroki is their top priority.

"Todoroki-kun should be somewhere near the center of the ice. That's where he was standing when—" Izuku pauses, unsure if the word "explosion" would work; after all, it feels like an explosion of some sort still rocked through them "—he used his quirk," he finishes with a safe nod.

He glances over his shoulder at the towering column of ice. "I'm not sure what creating this much ice might have done to his body, but hopefully he's trapped on the inside like we were."

(Izuku hopes Todoroki was as mindful of saving himself as he was about shielding each of them individually from the ice, but he's afraid of what they might find. He's dismally aware of Todoroki's selfless focus.)

"How should we get him out? Shattering the ice?"

"That would be the quickest way," Jiro adds.

Izuku shakes his head quickly. "That might put the rest of us in danger. Even a controlled blast might cause the whole thing to collapse. We need to focus on a small area. The spot where Todoroki-kun is."

"Izuku-kun is right," Yaoyorozu says. "Mina, you were able to get us out pretty quickly with your acid. Do you think you can use it again?"

"Yep!" Ashido nods, her light pink hair bouncing with the force of her agreement. She flexes her fingers, coaxing the acid out of her palm.

"I'll listen for sounds. Hopefully he's somewhere close so we can get him out faster."

"Good thinking."

Jiro steps forward and presses an ear jack to the ice. She furrows her brow, concentrating.

Izuku tries to remain still, but he can't help picking at his gloves.

 _How long has it been since we got out? At least five minutes? Surely something this big should have gotten Aizawa-sensei's attention by now._

He doesn't want to consider the alternative—that Radial Point's diversion had turned deadly for his other classmates.

Jiro's scowl deepens, dark irises darting to the side to accompany her search for sounds.

"I, uh, don't hear movement. I—I don't hear _anything._ "

 _"What?"_

"Wait—are you saying…?" Ashido bites her lip, glancing at Yaoyorozu with a quirked brow.

Jiro remains silent, the edge of her tongue slipping out of the corner of her mouth as she concentrates.

Izuku swallows thickly. _She can't hear anything? Does that mean Todoroki is—_ Izuku tenses, feeling One for All's power buzz around his bent knees. Forget the consequences—if Jiro can't sense a heartbeat, then they can't risk waiting any longer.

She inhales sharply, eyes widening. "Wait! I think I just heard something." Her classmates hold their collective breath as she waits for the next sluggish _thud._

 _Thud._

An agonizing pause.

 _Thud._

Another pause, far longer than she knows to be healthy.

 _Thud._

"It's there! Something's definitely there! It sounds like a heartbeat. It's slow though. Really slow." She retracts her ear jack with a frown and steps back.

"We need to get him out _now."_

"Ashido-san?"

"Got it!"

Ashido doesn't hesitate to take Jiro's place, smearing an acid-dripping palm against the cool surface. Instantly, several centimeters of ice slough off with a hiss of steam.

She works quickly, clearing several centimeters with each swipe, but Izuku can't help but feel that they're running out of time.

 _Hang on, Todoroki. We're almost there._

* * *

Bakugou watches Kirishima scamper around the remaining ice pods like an excitable dog. He shakes his head with a flick of his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

 _"Tch. What_ are you doing?"

"I'm trying to see who needs the most help first. We still have to find Kaminari and uh…? Who else was on your team?"

"How the fuck would I know?"

Kirishima gives him a painfully thin smile and scratches the edge of his cheek. "Uh, right. Why'd I even ask."

He hurries towards the closest pod, clearing away a layer of condensation with a forearm and squinting at the blurry shapes inside.

"Why's it our job to get them out anyway?" Bakugou continues, crossing his arms. "Huh?"

Kirishima doesn't offer an answer. Instead he chips at the ice, noting how it slices easier than expected, ice shards flying off with beads of water. When he clears a few centimeters, he catches a glimpse of distorted silver armor and gray smoke through the translucent ice layer

"Hey, I think I found the class prez!" Kirishima stands back, a wide grin stretching across his face. "Woooah, so cool! It looks like he's trying to melt himself out with his legs."

Bakugou maintains his scowl and crossed arms, but his curiosity wins out and he saunters towards Kirishima. They watch the pod for a second before Iida's left leg explodes through the pod's wall in a shower of ice flakes and a billow of thick, black smoke.

Kirishima coughs, bringing a curled fist to his mouth and nose to try to block out the worst of the exhaust.

"Augh, that must have been awful. You okay in there, Class Prez?" he calls, addressing the question to Iida's wriggling leg. There's a muffled response they can't quite make out.

Bakugou turns around and moves towards another pod.

"Hey, where are you going? We should help him get out—"

"He wants to be a hero, right? He ain't shit if he can't get out on his own."

"That's a bit harsh…" Kirishima frowns, glancing back at their struggling classmate. However, in the short span that they've looked away, Iida has already managed to get his other foot free.

"Besides, you said you wanted to look for the others, right? No point wasting time on him." Bakugou glances around the icy field with a scowl. "I haven't heard Sparky's annoying ass voice yet."

Kirishima's eyes widen before he nods. "Oh, right, of course. There are still a few pods left." He leans towards Iida's kicking feet for one more message.

"Yo, Class Prez. We're going to go help the others get out. If you're, uh... If you're good to get out on your own, stop kicking or something."

Iida's feet fall still for a moment. His muffled voice pours through the hole, distorted and incoherent.

"Great! Sounds good! See you soon, Class Prez!"

Kirishima makes a face and glances over at Bakugou. "Yeah, I don't know what he was saying," he confesses in a hushed tone. "Did you catch any of that?"

However, Bakugou's already moved towards the next pod, no longer paying attention. Kirishima offers one last shout of encouragement to Iida before hurrying towards Bakugou.

"I bet that's Kaminari," he says. Sporadic splashes of light explode from the inside, periodically illuminating a dark silhouette huddled inside. A large crack splits down the center of the pod, causing the hairs on the back of Kirishima's neck to prickle with the escaping electricity.

"And he looks pretty set too. Keep moving on?"

Bakugou grunts before moving towards the next clump of the ice mounds. Kirishima gives a reassuring knock against the ice before trailing after him.

"Let's see… Who else is there…" Kirishima mutters, tapping his chin as he runs through their class roster in his head.

"Frog girl," Bakugou says after another pause. He scans over the remaining pods, expression unconcerned for their missing classmate. "She's damn useless in the cold, so there's no way she's getting out on her own. You better go find her."

Kirishima waits until Bakugou's back is turned before he smiles.

 _Ah, so he did remember who was on his team after all?_

* * *

While Ashido concentrates on slicking away the ice, a recently freed Kaminari cheers her on. Jiro keeps an ear jack pressed to the side of the ice chunk, monitoring their progress and straining to hear a heartbeat in the brief pauses between acid swipes.

Izuku can't watch their progress without fidgeting, so he turns to Iida and Yaoyorozu to discuss their next move. He knows someone should leave for help, but he isn't sure who's their best chance for scaling over the massive ice wall.

 _Maybe me. Kacchan could too._ Still, he doesn't want to leave Todoroki's side and he knows Bakugou would _loathe_ or straight-up refuse being sent on a messenger mission.

"If he's unconscious or injured, he might not be able to regulate his body temperature properly," Izuku begins, pinching the edge of his chin as his eyebrows knit together.

Iida hums in agreement. "We should do something to keep him stable until Sensei and the others arrive."

"I can try to create something that could hold in heat. It may take some time, but it might help."

"That would be great. Iida-kun, can you—"

"I think I see him!" Ashido's triumphant shout draws their attention back to their progress. While Yaoyorozu focuses on channeling her quirk, Iida and Izuku crowd around Ashido and the others.

After melting through nearly a meter of ice, Ashido lets the last of the acid drizzle from her palm. "I probably shouldn't go any further. I don't want to burn him too."

Izuku can see a glimpse of Todoroki's huddled body through the remaining few centimeters of ice. It almost reminds him of butterflies pressed behind glass, a little distorted and far too still. He shudders, passing it off as a residual chill rather than an uncomfortable tremor.

 _He didn't build an air pocket for himself like he did for us. He's completely encased._

"I'll melt the rest," Iida says as he angles his calves as close as he can to the indent in the ice.

"Good idea, Iida-kun," Izuku says, shifting from foot to foot. It takes another excruciating minute before Iida manages to thaw the remaining ice around Todoroki. No longer supported by ice, Todoroki's limp body sags and Izuku rushes forward to catch his shoulders before his lolling head can bang against the ground.

 _"Todoroki-kun!"_

The worried shout bubbles from his lips before he can clamp them closed. He carefully maneuvers Todoroki out of the ice, keeping a tight grip on the undersides of his biceps as he tries to lower them both to the ground. Todoroki's extra centimeters in height and Izuku's mounting exhaustion disrupts his controlled descent and they both collapse. Izuku tries to keep Todoroki off the ice-covered ground, resulting in an awkward shuffle until Todoroki is balanced on his thighs.

"He's s-so c-cold," Izuku says with another shudder. If Jiro hadn't reassured him that Todoroki's heart was still beating, he would have thought he was holding a corpse. He repositions his grip around Todoroki's chest, wishing he could transfer more of his body heat to his friend as he holds him closer. He considers activating his quirk, but he doesn't want to accidentally harm Todoroki.

"Yaoyorozu-san?" he asks. Before he can turn his head in her direction, she wraps a thick, oversized blanket around his shoulders. Izuku reflexively tries to shrug it off, because _really,_ Todoroki needs as much warmth as he can get and he doesn't want to steal any of it.

"Hu-uh?" he protests, trying to wriggle free.

"You're shivering too, Midoriya-kun," she explains as she wraps the blanket around him a second time, enveloping he and Todoroki in a tight cocoon.

"Your body heat will warm the blanket up faster," Jiro adds.

Izuku nods and mashes his lips together, focusing his gaze on the edge of Todoroki's collar. He can feel warmth radiate from his body, heating the inside of the blanket. His eyelids feel impossibly heavy, his muscles sluggish.

He feels the tension and pent-up adrenaline from their fight against Radial Point and the subsequent ice explosion drain from his body, leaving him utterly exhausted. He wants to sleep, but he knows he can't.

At least, not yet.

* * *

"Jeez, she's so cold. D'ya think she's supposed to be that cold?" Kirishima throws a worried glance in Bakugou's direction when he finally manages to chip Tsuyu's body out of the ice.

"Hell would I know?"

"I hope she's okay. She's breathing…slowly. But that's good, right? That she's breathing?"

Bakugou stares flatly at him. He doesn't bother repeating his question.

"Let's get her back to the others and warm her up. That's probably the best bet." Kirishima bundles Tsuyu close to his chest and hoists her in the air. She grumbles and twitches at the sudden motion, the first promising sign of life since they found her.

 _"Todoroki-kun!"_

Kirishima's eyes widen and he bites his lip. "I think that was Midoriya. He sounds upset. That can't be a good sign."

They head back towards the cluster of their other classmates, huddled around the base of the ice tower. Kirishima immediately busies himself with trying to warm Tsuyu with Iida's help, holding her near his still-smoking calves. Bakugou takes a moment to scan the rest of the scene, trying to see what had happened while he was stuck rescuing his useless classmates.

At first, he notices the deep pit in the side of the ice tower. He recognizes it as the same spot where Deku and the others had been standing when he flew towards them before the ice explosion.

 _That's right—that damn nerd kept shouting about how this was where the bomb was or something. Half-n-half must have been standing at the center._

Bakugou takes a closer look at the gouge in the ice, noting how the sides are perfectly slick but inconsistently deep, as if someone had scrambled against the ice in a hurry with palms and fingers instead of fists.

 _I bet that was Raccoon Eyes. The others would have shattered the ice—not melted it._

He drags his gaze to the other students. Most are standing, their collective focus completely consumed by the two boys on the ground.

Deku and Todoroki.

Deku looks no different than usual. Sure, his eyes are a little wider and his mouth is parted in a deep frown, but he isn't _dying_ , so Bakugou has no idea why he was acting so damn dramatic earlier.

(Then again, Bakugou always thinks Deku looks to be on the verge of tears.)

However, when he shifts his attention to Todoroki, Bakugou feels his lips twist into a wry frown.

Todoroki looks different, lifeless.

There aren't any marks or signs of serious injury, but Bakugou can see the difference in his deathly pale skin and blue-tinged lips. How his freaky two-tone eyes are hidden by eyelids and ice-crusted eyelashes.

Bakugou scowls.

It reminds him too much of how Todoroki looked at the Sports Festival, when he had refused to fight with his all. Unconscious and unresponsive against that slab of ice.

His fingers twitch when he remembers how they felt tangled up in Todoroki's collar.

 _What the hell, Half-n-half? Giving up now too?_

Still, he knows Todoroki can't be dead. His overemotional classmates would have vastly different expressions.

(And he's positive Deku would be bawling if Half-n-half had bit the dust.)

He shakes his head and turns away, not wanting to look at Deku's pitiful expression or Todoroki's lack of expression for any longer than he has to. He surveys the icy landscape around them, grudgingly impressed with Todoroki's quirk.

He squints at the upwards lip of the icy bowl, wondering if he could soar over it in two or three explosions. He doesn't know when the others will arrive, but he isn't about to keep waiting.

However, just as he tenses his knees to blast off, he sees three blobs rise over the edge. He squints away the residual glare from the setting sun before realizing they shapes belong to two of his classmates and his teacher.

 _It's Round Face… and Tape Arms? The hell are they doing here?_

Aizawa reaches the ground first, quickly retracting his capture tape before striding towards his students. His eyes dart from student to student, only sparing a second to check each of them for serious injury. Bakugou steps away to give him room and the shift in movement attracts attention from the others.

Various expressions flicker across their worried faces when they see their teacher. Most are relieved; a few are startled.

"Sensei!"

* * *

 _"Sensei!"_

Izuku sucks in a sharp breath when he sees their homeroom teacher striding towards them. Aizawa's gaze studies him, then drops to the unconscious boy in his lap. It lingers a second longer on Todoroki, before jumping back to Izuku's other classmates.

Aizawa pauses for a second to kneel by Tsuyu and Kirishima. He listens impassively as Kirishima explains something and then points towards the furthest sloping edge of the ice. Kirishima nods uncertainly and starts to carry Tsuyu in that direction.

"Deku!" Uraraka shouts, running towards them. Sero trails behind a bit slower, wide eyes taking in the towering pillar of ice. Uraraka drops to her knees beside Izuku while Sero stops to stand with the rest of the students. She shakes his shoulder, but he can barely feel it through Yaoyorozu's thick comforter.

"Uraraka-san? Sero-kun? What—what are you doing here?"

"Aizawa-sensei wanted us to go over the wall right away in case anyone needed to be rescued before the pro heroes could get here. Is everyone okay?"

"I—I think so. Most of us are fine. Tsu-chan and Todoroki-kun though…" he trails off, glancing down at Todoroki's deceptively peaceful expression.

Uraraka looks around, eyes wide and lips pursed as she takes in her surroundings. "Oooh…"

"Seriously? Todoroki did all this?" Sero whispers, leaning towards a nearby Kaminari.

"Yeah, kinda scary, right?" He nods towards the pod he escaped from. "Now I know how you felt during the Sports Festival. That must have sucked, man."

"Yeah…" Sero nods and rubs the back of his neck with a nervous chuckle.

A harsh _skritching_ sound comes from the opposite end of the field and Power Loader's metal claw bursts through the ice. He clears a jagged tunnel and dozens of pro heroes, students, and authorities stream through the hole. They split off, several racing towards the base of the ice chunk while others search the remaining pods.

Compared to the silence of the clearing before, Izuku's momentarily startled by the sudden flurry of noise and activity. He tightens his grip around Todoroki's warming chest, unable to summon up the energy to move much more than that. He's not even sure he _can_ move; his legs and backside have been numb since collapsing.

"Deku!" Uraraka repeats, leaning over him until her face fills his immediate vision. He blinks and refocuses on her. "Did you hear me?"

"Uh, what?"

"We want to know what happened." Uraraka's scrunched-brow concern taints her forced smile. He glances around and sees that his other classmates surround them. They too seem uninjured.

Izuku allows himself a shaky exhale. _Radial Point didn't hurt them either._

A shadow falls over them and Izuku starts when he realizes it belongs to their teacher.

"Aizawa-sensei!"

"What happened?"

"It was Radial Point." He hears his other classmates gasp, but he forces himself to maintain eye contact with his teacher. "He wanted to kill Todoroki-kun for revenge against Endeavor. His quirk—he used it to keep barriers up between us. He said he was going to detonate a bomb."

As he tells the story, Izuku feels like he's running along a crumbling edge. If he pauses for even the smallest breath, then everything will collapse underneath him.

 _It's okay. The pro heroes are here. Everything will be okay._

He forces himself to slow down and takes a few steady inhales before continuing.

"He separated us. Todoroki-kun fought him alone. He—he said he would kill Todoroki-kun if I went to get help. But then he was distracted by the fire and I must have disabled his quirk by smashing it. All the barriers—they disappeared, but then the bomb was still going to go off. Everyone was running towards us and then Todoroki…" Izuku shakes his head, still not sure how to describe what happened.

"He saved us," Izuku settles for. His classmates nod in agreement, finally able to contribute after listening in awe about their standoff with a villain.

"Izuku-kun is right," Yaoyorozu adds. "Todoroki-kun made sure we were all protected from the ice. We had to break ourselves out—"

"—but we had room to move and breathe," Ashido finishes.

"But I'm worried that Todoroki-kun might have pushed his quirk too far. He hasn't moved since we got him out of the ice and he's really cold."

Aizawa considers their story for a moment before sighing, though he doesn't look overly surprised.

"You've done well. All of you. The authorities will take care of the rest." Izuku nods weakly, feeling the relieved lump rise in his throat. Were they safe now? Could he finally relax?

A paramedic appears at Izuku's side, gently prying open the blanket cocoon. He reflexively resists before realizing that she's only trying to shift Todoroki to a motorized gurney. He stops resisting and lets the medics carefully move his friend's limp body. Izuku shivers, exposed to the frigid air again, but he untangles Yaoyorozu's blanket from his shoulders and drapes it over Todoroki.

The medics move away as Kirishima returns to their group, no longer holding Tsuyu and now wrapped in a shock blanket.

Aizawa turns to address his class. "Everyone involved in the training exercise will undergo an observation period at the hospital. You may feel fine now, but we don't want to miss any complications from the cold."

Bakugou scowls. "There's nothing wrong with me! Why do I have to go to a damn hospital?"

" _Everyone_ will undergo an observation period," Aizawa repeats. He pretends not to hear the interruption, but Midnight lifts the hem of her sleeve with a pointed look in Bakugou's direction. He stands down with a grumble, his scowl deepening.

"And Midoriya?"

Izuku perks up. "Yes, Sensei?"

"The police will need a statement from you at the hospital. Remember to breathe next time you tell it."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!** Next chapter is the last chapter, but it's full of Class 1-A bonding and fluff, baby!


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